Section Ten

A
Background
Women 5.23-9 (esp. 25), 4.21-3 (and cf. on homosexuality 5.33); in mystery religions 3.49; in myth 3.12 Inconsistency of plot 8.74
The war (as it was when Lysistrata was produced) 1.76-7 Grammar
Aorist optative active and middle S^Srapl, yiyvraaxra, apeln;, yluxv;
Relative pronoun
The principles of comparative gridding suggest that the present active and middle indicative and optative should be revised, then the aorist indicative set up; for the relative pronoun, set up the definite article for comparison. yluxv; and apel^; should be gridded against rpinpn; (cf. Reference Grammar, GE pp. 382-6), and active participles against the first declension feminine forms.
(1) Aor. opt.: it may be useful to teach -aaipi, -aaic, -aai etc. as normal, with - aeiac, -aeie as alternatives. The former are much more easily formed from the present optative by reading -aai- for -oi- throughout.
(2) S^Sra^l: it is vital that SiSo-/So- stems should be recognized; the forms are mostly straightforward. Note the shortening of the stem-vowel in the plural ^Srapi ^ S^So^ev) as with etpi, otSa and ^n^.
(3) Relative pronoun: there is little problem in explaining its formation, although it is surprising how hard students find it to spot when reading. Stop and check accurate understanding as each new form occurs; further reinforcement will be needed.
Discussion
Students seldom need much encouragement to read the whole play in translation. It is worth pointing out the central absurdity - how can the wives’ sex-strike against the war work when their husbands are away all the time fighting?
Schubert’s one-act comic opera Die Verschworenen (‘The Conspirators’), libretto by I. F. Castelli after Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, was earlier entitled Der hausliche Krieg (‘Domestic Warfare’) because of the political sensitivities of ‘conspiracy’ in 1823 Vienna. Castelli transfers the (in)action to the time of the Crusades, with a few delightful twists: when the count’s page, returning from war, hears that the countess has convened all the women, he dresses as a woman to spy on the women (shades of Thesmophoriazusai!). The men thus hear about the sex- strike so feign complete indifference and go out drinking, whereupon the countess dresses her maid as a man to spy on the men to find out what is going on. Needless to say, as in Aristophanes, all ends happily.
CD
Section 10a-c (Text pp. 120-5) is recorded on CD 2, tracks 37-9.
Commentary
p. 120 line
I The first relative pronoun occurs in the stage direction and should be translated by students.
II arc£x€O0ai: Ask which infinitive this is, and from what verb. What is the force of ano-? Hence ‘hold oneself away from’.
11 a^podiofov: cf. Aphrodite, aphrodisiac - goddess not of love but of sex, homo- and hetero-sexual.
12 ov^: by this time seven forms of the relative pronoun have appeared. This is a convenient point to complete the grid and comment on usage, before the aorist optative is introduced. 
17 rcoi^oai^i: this is usually correctly translated, on the assumption that it is some sort of optative. Try to elicit the -oi- to -aai- change and add variants as they occur (rcovnaeiac;, line 25; rcovnaeie 27).
p. 121 line
30 vai TM oiro: there is no need to mention the dual. Vocabulary p. 121 gives this as ‘Spartan dialect’, referring to Castor and Pollux (twin brothers of Helen, sons of Zeus and/or Tyndareos by Leda. Tyndareos was king of Lakedaimon).
Section Ten B
Background
Treasury 2.34
Economics of empire 6.70ff., esp. 75
Commentary
p. 122 line
2-3 Triremes and silver - Athenian naval power first became prominent when Themistocles used the silver from Laureion to build up the fleet.
1 KaTaXnyo^eOa: the first sit-in in history?
5- 6 The Athenians set aside reserves early in the war which were kept in the Acropolis. The women intend to control the money-supply.
8 Note n 0eoc - more common than n 0ea.
16 6; + acc. = ‘to’, normally only with persons.
21 £yvro: only comment on this form if asked. The root aorist form is given in GE 209 p. 200.
22 fo^ra^e: ‘ she ovpoi-d’.
24 Kinesias, and Paionides later: both Kivera and naira are used by Aristophanes as slang terms for sexual intercourse.
24 ouvoiKei;: the regular word for man-wife cohabitation, not as in the modern English ‘live with’.
^iAeiv Kai ^ ^iAeiv: the meaning becomes apparent in the Kinesias-Myrrhine scene. Either anticipate this here, or leave it mysterious - ‘to love, yet not to love’.
Section Ten C
Commentary
p. 124 line
1 orcao^o;: it means ‘erection’. Note also the phraseology: the erection is in control of him - cf. on p. 34.9.
7 If the ^allo; has been mentioned as customary in comedy, mention that here it was undoubtedly emphasized.
11 8rooouoi: ‘grant’ is closest to the meaning here.
25 8ia OTO^a: the English idiom ‘on her lips’ catches the double entendre (fellatio).
26 There is erotic symbolism in giving an apple to the object of your desire; you hope he or she will take it. Note that Eve tempted Adam with (possibly) an apple. Our custom is drinking to absent friends rather than eating.
29 Note the oath by Aphrodite.
38 What he had in his hand was probably his ^allo;.
p. 125 line
46 tnaKouoov: the regular verb for ‘answer the door’.
54 oiov TO T€K€iv: Lysistrata 884: give the complete phrase. Neither the verb nor the usage of to + infinitive is known at this stage.
Section Ten D
Background
Purification 3.33
Male slaves caring for children 5.63
Commentary
p. 126 line
3ff. yluxv; (cf. glucose, glycerin etc.) and apeln; are much used here to introduce the patterns. For reading purposes, note that the feminine of yluxv; follows the first declension pattern.
12 pa8ifi: cf. line. 17, PaSiovpai. Since a number of -i^ra, future -era, verbs appear in a little burst, together with a number with stems in -l, -p, -v, -p, this is a good time to revise the e-contract futures.
19 Note how Kinesias totally ignores the question, so Myrrhine begins the teasing ...
20 £pro: the first occurrence. Use this to reinforce the point made earlier about two ep- stems, but note that one always has active, the other middle, endings.
14 Note the force of Kara- in Karayelaare and the meaning can be elicited.
Section Ten E
Commentary
p. 127 line
2 €K8vo^ai: yet by line 52 she hasn’t even taken her shoes off.
11 npooK€9alaiov: npo; + xe^aln, then guess.
p. 128 line
15 CTpo^iov: refer to the picture to explain that the sash was worn below the breasts to give support.
32 ^ av0prano^: derogatory here, as in the Text p. 10.19 etc. (but it is not always so; see p. 206.15).
p. 129 line
43 Note the oath here - and the change from the goddess of sex to the goddess of chastity coming up at line 52.
46 8iaTpip^^: literally a ‘wearing away’: cf. the noun Tpt^rav, a threadbare cloak such as Socrates used to wear. Here it has the sense of wearing/wasting away time, whence it is given as ‘delay, procrastination’; the English derivative ‘dia¬tribe’ comes from another sort of wearing away, that is, whittling down the reputation of another, hence a vicious piece of invective. Cf. tribadism.
52 A fine juxtaposition of two points already made: ‘By Artemis (goddess of chastity), I’ll take my shoes off!’
55 More positive than Aristophanes ’ PouAeVaopai (Lysistrata 951), but it gives a good ending here.
Refer to GE 217 as many relative pronouns have occurred, but only a few in the form oanep or oaTic;.
Test Exercise
Explain code-staffs and Aristophanes’ deliberate phallic by-play.